


Leave us alone, man

by Hungry_AloeLeaf



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Firedad and Brambleson, Firedad don't play, Fluff, mess with his kids and you got yourself a problem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24310417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hungry_AloeLeaf/pseuds/Hungry_AloeLeaf
Summary: Over the past few moons, Brambleclaw has been dragged to the medicine den because he's been waking up with scratches. Firestar is determined to get to the bottom of the matter.(Actually, am I finishing this?? Eh......??????)
Relationships: Brambleclaw & Firestar (Warriors), Tigerstar & Hawkfrost (Warriors)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 55





	1. those thorns aren't warriors

“Great Starclan, Bramble…”

The brown tabby shrunk under Firestar’s incredulous gaze. Cinderpelt finished applying the poultice to the last scratch, wiping her paws in the wet wad of moss beside her.

“Whew! I guess those thorns were out in your nest to get you, huh?” The gray she-cat grinned at Brambleclaw, but her concerned gaze connected with Firestar’s. “Must have been some real pricklers…”

“Um, yeah. Must have been tossing and turning too much.” The tabby laughed nervously, stomach twisting when Firestar glared at him. “Ahem. Uh… so I guess I’ll go and hunt or something-”

“No, you won’t.” Cinderpelt and Brambleclaw both inched closer to each other as the neon orange tom stood. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell us why you keep waking up with these wounds.”

“What?!” Brambleclaw’s amber eyes widened, and he pushed himself up halfway. “Why? I can still hunt; it doesn’t hurt that badly-”

“Cinderpelt, please. If you could just give us a moment.” Firestar’s tone was ice cold.

Brambleclaw shivered despite his thick pelt when the medicine cat patted him comfortingly and padded outside. The Thunderclan leader inhaled deeply.

“Bramble, listen here. This isn’t about how much it hurts. It’s about you telling me the truth.”

“I…” The tabby paused, clamping his jaws shut as he considered what to say next. “It is thorns. It’s nothing serious.”

“Why are you lying to me, Bramble?!” Firestar’s emerald eyes glittered in hurt. “You know that’s not true, until those thorns trained for moons just to tear you up!”

“They are minor injuries! Nothing serious!”

“Nothing serious my tail,” The leader rolled his eyes, turning away from his former apprentice to pace. “If one of those scratches got infected because you’re trying to prance around acting like they’re nothing, you could die! IF I didn’t drag you here every time, I’m certain that would be the end result!”

“Firestar-”

“I don’t think you understand how scary it is for me to see you like this!”

“But… I…” Brambleclaw bit his lip, looking away from the upset ginger tom. “I didn’t think I was hurting anyone…”

The Thunderclan leader stopped, tensing. He threw Brambleclaw a hardened glance over his shoulder.

“You are not permitted to leave this den until you tell me why you keep getting injured or until I say otherwise. Understand?”

Brambleclaw was silent, glaring down at his paws.

“UNDERSTAND?”

“Yes…”

The leader’s tail swished the ground as he stalked out. He was only a few tail-lengths away when he deflated, shoulders slumping.

“That was hard…” He murmured to Cinderpelt, who was sitting with a mouse not too far the medicine den.

“That was brave of you. Honestly, last time I saw you that serious was… well, Tigerstar.”

“Of course I’m serious about this, Cinder! He’s putting himself in some kind of danger… he sure wasn’t telling me the truth, I know that much.”

“Yeah. Those are definitely claw marks on him.” Cinderpelt hummed thoughtfully through her mouthful of mouse meat. “Mm – ya’know, he could be trying to protect someone.”

“Protect someone?” Firestar repeated, emerald eyes wide. “He should be protecting himself, trying come on patrols looking all torn up like a kit’s moss-ball…”

“The cat who hurt him, he could be trying to protect. He may not want them to get in trouble!” She suggested with a shrug.

Her words remained in Firestar’s head for the rest of that day, when he was sending out patrols, checking on his daughters.

“Dad! Check this!” Squirrelpaw grinned, running over to Leafpaw. “Leafy, stand still! I wanna show Dad what we did earlier!” 

“Squirrel…” Leafpaw whined.

“Please?” The dark ginger she-cat made her green eyes big.

“Fine…” Leafpaw sighed, with a glanced at their father as she lowered her head, standing straight. “Go ahead already…”

Firestar smiled back at Squirrelpaw when she excitedly squealed, and hurled herself at Leafpaw. Before Firestar could leap up to stop her from colliding into her sister, she stopped herself with her hind paws, and cleanly leaped high over the brown tabby.

“Ta-da!” She cried as she skidded to a stop on the other side of her sister.

“Wow!” Firestar mewed, clapping his front paws together. “That was pretty cool, Squirrel-girl!”

“I know!” She glowed at his praise, and Leafpaw giggled at her.

“She made me practice with her this morning,” Leafpaw flicked her sister’s tufted ear with her tail as she passed her.

Squirrelpaw squeaked and tackled the medicine cat apprentice to the ground, and they playfully wrestled around on the grass.

Firestar’s smile faded when he glanced up, directly at the medicine den. He could see the gleam of amber eyes in the dark of the den. The leader’s chest panged with slight guilt. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so hard on the tabby…

He knew his staring was getting strange now, his daughters had stopped to glance at him.

But he froze up when another pair of amber eyes appeared. They glowed unnaturally. Firestar felt as if the second pair of eyes was searing his soul, and he gasped, taking a step back. The eyes narrowed before they faded, and all he could see was what he was sure was Brambleclaw sitting in the dark. He excused himself from his kits and padded off to the leader’s den, chest heaving. He collapsed in his nest; legs weak.

_Those eyes seemed too familiar._

He swallowed; throat suddenly dry. He buried his nose into his nest, taking a few deep breaths of his and Sandstorm’s scents mingled together until his nerves stopped buzzing.

“It’s fine. Nothing… nothing’s wrong…”

The ginger tom sighed, relaxing. It… it wasn’t uncommon for a leader to take a nap, right? It was about evening now anyways, and Graystripe could handle that remaining patrol. He closed his eyes, claws unsheathing when the amber eyes flashed in front of his black vision.


	2. the spidery mice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Firestar finds himself in a horrible, evil place and gets freaked out by a mouse.

“Fireheart.”

Firestar’s claws dug into black soil and he glanced up, seeing no one. _Where had the voice come from?_

He fluffed out his ginger pelt, and stood, glancing all about. Trees, tall oaks, with uncharacteristic black bark and black leaves that loomed into the red sky. It wasn’t… Starclan, for sure. Perhaps it was just a strange dream.

But the breeze that ruffled his fur as he bounded through the darkly lit forest felt much too real. He could scent a piece of prey. He grinned, remembering the dream he’d first had, that led him into the forest in the first place. He followed the scent, a mouse by the smell of it, and tracked it down.

He could spot the gray fur in the dim red light from the sky and the glow of the mushrooms sticking out from where the small creature was seated. The little fuzzy body was hunched over something, little paws busy. Firestar crouched, paws silent as he navigated the dead black leaves and the broken tree limbs.

He pounced. While he was in midair, the mouse turned its small head. Firestar let out an unholy shriek, a cross between a goat’s scream and a frog’s croak.

The mouse’s eight black, beady eyes ogled him as he dropped to the ground and leaped away from it. It let out a hiss, black liquid spraying from its deadly fangs before it scurried off.

The Thunderclan leader crouched defensively now, looking around again. The trees seemed to bend down to leer at him, and the red sky flared the colors of fire.

“Hello?” The neon orange tom called into the dark surrounding him, claws sliding out. “Starclan, is this a test?”

Perhaps it was only a bad dream. Maybe stress was affecting his sleep as well…

“Poor, scared little Fireheart.” The deep voice sighed from somewhere behind him. “You’re just as stupid as I remember you, kittypet.”

The ginger tom didn’t have to turn to see who the voice belonged to, but he whirled around anyways, emerald eyes blazing.

“Tigerclaw.” Firestar stood tall under the tall tabby’s gaze. “I thought you were… well, _deceased._ ”

“Every cat has an afterlife, dumb kittypet. There’s not just Starclan with their sparkles and bright skies.”

“Yeah, guess it would be awkward for you if you did end up with the Stars. You probably killed half of the cats in there!”

“Details aren’t important, Fireheart.” Tigerstar stepped forward, and Firestar’s rigid stance tightened even more. “And besides, you’re… well, sticking your little nose where could get _bitten_.”

“What the foxdung are you talking about, murderer?” Firestar snapped, claws itching to claw up that heartless cat’s face. “I lead Thunderclan, in case you haven’t noticed! Everything that goes on in there is my business!”

He noticed as the tabby circled him his ripped stomach, though cleaned of the blood, smelled sour and infected, and the former leader’s tail was covered in something black. Without thinking, Firestar curiously and quickly reached out to touch the tabby’s fluffy tail.

“What are you doing?!” The tabby flinched away, long talons sliding out.

“Seeing what’s on your tail.” Firestar blinked at him innocently, paw still on the huge tabby’s pelt.

Tigerstar whipped his tail away, sunset eyes glowing angrily. The weird little things on his tail fluttered.

“As I was saying, you need to stay in your own path, _Firekit_. Brambleclaw’s business isn’t yours.”

“And who are you to say that?!” Firestar snapped his attention from the former leader’s tail and glared at him again. “He’s practically my… I mean, he was my apprentice. And I am his leader. I’m allowed to be worried about him; he’s getting hurt all the time!”

The ginger tom paused, taking a little step back.

“You know… it’s stupid of me to think you would even care about his wellbeing.” The leader laughed sourly. “You weren’t even there, you know? Out doing malicious things and creating plans that would never work while your son came to me crying at nights asking about ‘where his dad was’ and ‘why couldn’t he ever come play with him’.”

Tigerstar stopped circling him, and stopped in front of the ginger tom, fur on his tail fluttering as if there were little pairs of wings covering it.

“And whose fault is it that I was exiled, Fireheart?”

“Your own, and you know it. You murdered, you lied, you manipulated, and you expected a reward for it! Well, you got what you deserved, you big puffball!”

Tigerstar’s amber eyes lit the color of the fiery sky and his talons curled into the dry earth. His tail fluttered furiously, lifting up without any effort, and Firestar realized that the things there were the many little wings of something.

To Firestar’s surprise, the tabby inhaled deeply, sheathing his claws.

“I would have been there.”

“Does it really matter what you would have done? He’s hurting and you’re telling me to mind my own business.”

“Each time he gets hurt; he gets stronger.”

“YOU-” Firestar’s blood boiled at the other tom’s aloof expression. “Your head must be hard as granite, you know that?! His very life could be in danger, even if it is a slight chance of it! You are just heartless. I’m leaving!”

He hmphed at the tabby crossly before turning and stomping through the bushes. A few heartbeats later, Firestar clumsily scrambled back out from the shrubs in a bout of terrified gasps.

“SCARY MOUSE!”

Tigerstar finally smiled at the sight of the frazzled neon orange tom scared out of his wits, and his tail curled over his back.

“As entertaining as you are, kittypet,” He stepped over Firestar, grabbing the current Thunderclan leader’s chin with a paw and glaring directly at him. “This conversation isn’t finished. Now look into my eyes.”

“Why-” Firestar looked up to see that Tigerstar’s sunset-colored eyes were glowing intensely.

Before he knew it, he was back in his nest. He gasped as he shot up from the moss, green eyes wide was he gasped for air. Sandstorm was beside him now, and she opened her eyes to look at her terrified mate.

“Fire…?”

“O-oh… hey…” He gulped, grinning at her nervously. “You’re here…”

“And you fell asleep early. That’s weird for you.” She pointed out, but concern flashed in her eyes. “You okay?”

“Y-yeah. Sure I am.”

She pursed her lips and frowned a little, but accepted his answer for then, and snuggled closer to him.

“Go back to sleep then! Seriously, everything’s been quiet since you went to sleep. Don’t really want it to change!”

Firestar forced himself to smile with her, but that dream… he glanced down at his paw. He hadn’t realized it, but those wings had a sticky black substance on them. He glared at the black tar-like liquid and sniffed his paw curiously.

_Tigerstar’s vanilla-like scent was still there._

And the thought crossed his mind now – perhaps that wasn’t as much of a bad dream as he thought it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanons I've shown here:
> 
> 1\. Tigerstar getting covered with sticky, black butterflies in the Dark Forest. He talks to them when he's upset, and they get stuck to his fur, giving him a... stranger appearance. I can't even describe it yet but his fur just. flutters whenever he gets mad
> 
> 2\. All Dark Forest cats getting at least a little self-conscious about the changes the evil forest makes to them. 
> 
> 3\. Weird prey in the Dark Forest. Spidery mice, snakey birds, stuff like that
> 
> 4\. Both Fire and Tiger refuse to use each other's leader titles - because both believed the other shouldn't have become leader at all.
> 
> 5\. The reason why Tiger can't get too mad because he hates the way it feels when all the butterflies start fluttering and his tail lifts without his control. The butterflies make sure that he keeps his temper.
> 
> 6\. Looking into the eyes of a Dark Forest cat sends you back into reality if the DF cat intends it
> 
> 7\. Tiger and all of his clones smell like vanilla and nobody can tell me otherwise... I imagine all of the warriors families with certain scents like they're CANDLES or something


	3. what do you want to do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brambleclaw trains in the Dark Forest, and Tigerstar attempts to be a dad
> 
> But disregard that for the awful fighting scenes!

“Maybe you should move to Riverclan!” Hawkfrost suggested when Brambleclaw told him about his confinement. “Leopardstar would never keep one of her best warriors all cooped up like that!”

“Thanks, Hawky… but I know he’s just worried…”

They were walking to the base of the rock that their father was perched on in order to start training for that night.

“Worried my tail, Bramble. You seriously think he cares about you?”

“Of course I do!” Brambleclaw was surprised at the ferocity in his own voice. “I mean, he’s been around since I was a kit, and he was my mentor… he’d have no reason to fuss over me so much if he didn’t care.”

“He was enemies with our father though?” Hawkfrost looked quite confused. “Why would he give two rat’s tails about you? Didn’t you say that he was scared of you when you were a kit?”

Both brothers stopped to giggle at that. The idea of the wise Thunderclan leader nearly wetting himself at the sight of a fluffy, adorable kitten still always managed to make them laugh.

“Aw, he’s past that now.” Brambleclaw bit his lip, pushing out the memory of how Firestar had been looking at the medicine den earlier. “Besides, what makes you so sure our father actually… cares about us?”

“Well, when I was a kit, he would visit me. I thought they were just super weird dreams at first, but… I don’t know. I only started believing they were real after Moth said she had a dream just like it. I know that she wouldn’t say it if she didn’t think it was important or something. I don’t think she got another one after that, but I kept getting more. And he would play with me, and he would cuddle, and all sorts of things I think fathers and sons do…”

Brambleclaw’s face twisted for a brief moment as if he had suckled on something sour. He’d… he’d only gotten his first dream several moons ago. Hawkfrost didn’t notice it though, he was listing off the things he and Tigerstar used to do. Now Brambleclaw could see their father rise up on the rock, amber eyes glowing. His ears were tilted in their direction, and for a quick moment, Brambleclaw’s stomach clenched fearfully. Had the former Tigerclan leader heard everything he said about Firestar?

“Come here! Does it look like we have time to waste?”

“No sir!” Hawkfrost grinned, bounding under the rock. “What are we doing? Are we hunting those cool weird mice? Are we sparring? Are we playing-”

“Settle down.” But Tigerstar was smiling a little, a warmth to his deep voice. “We’ll get to it. Brambleclaw, get over here too.”

The Thunderclan warrior gulped under Tigerstar’s glare and padded over, noticing with a pang that the black butterflies on his father’s tail were in action. Whatever it was, Tigerstar was certainly upset about something tonight.

“Now, say the pledge to each other.” The former leader mewed once Brambleclaw was standing next to an excited Hawkfrost.

“Whatever happens here doesn’t mean that I hate you or want to hurt you. Whatever happens here is not personal. It just means I’m getting stronger in order to be a better Clanmate for my Clan.” Both half-brothers mewed, Brambleclaw more mechanically than Hawkfrost.

“Good. Now, fighting stance, a few tail-lengths away from each other.”

“Ooh, this is going to be so exciting!” Hawkfrost squealed in Brambleclaw’s ear before he dashed a couple of tail-lengths back.

Brambleclaw stepped back as well, still uncomfortable with Tigerstar’s gaze on him. He made himself think about something else. _No, no! Something else other than Firestar and how safe he made him feel compared to how Tigerstar did!_

“Now, let’s see how you both have improved.” Their father’s voice snapped Brambleclaw out of his stupor. “Attack each other.”

“Don’t hold back?” Brambleclaw hated how exhilarated Hawkfrost sounded now, and he could see his brother’s claws score the earth.

“Right, thanks for reminding me. YOU hold back, Hawky.”

“What?!” Both brothers incredulously stared up at the former leader.

“You… you never let us hold back.” Brambleclaw murmured in confusion, gaze dropping.

“Clearly, your… annoying furball of a leader is suspicious. We don’t need him stopping all of your progress. I know how stubborn he can be. He’ll keep you in that den until you tell him something. So, once you wake, you tell him that you kept sneaking out to train with another warrior. But don’t tell him who. In the meantime, while you’re in the medicine den, we’ll try our best to keep you as unscathed as possible.”

“Whoa… didn’t know your leader was that stuck up your hindquarters, Bramble!” Hawkfrost had gotten over his initial shock to cackle at his brother.

“Shut up!” Brambleclaw playfully snapped in reply.

“But seriously, how else am I supposed to fight?”

“Hawkfrost,” Tigerstar paused briefly, and Brambleclaw got the slight feeling that he was about to say something just to get Hawkfrost to be quiet about fighting claw-less. “Your own mother had no claws. If she had stayed with you, she would have to learn a different technique as well. But remember, just because you’re not unsheathing your claws, doesn’t mean that this is a play fight. This is life or death.”

“Okay, life or death.” Hawkfrost repeated, dropping quickly into a fighting stance. “Got it!”

Brambleclaw eased into a crouch as well, ears flattened, tail close to his body. Inwardly, he was shaking, but he stood sturdy when Hawkfrost leaped at him. Brambleclaw could see the glint of claws before Hawkfrost’s eyes widened in realization, and the claws sheathed. Before Hawkfrost’s strong paws made contact, Brambleclaw grappled his brother by the shoulder, and slammed him into the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tigerstar’s tail curl in approval.

Hawkfrost let out a fierce growl of determination and grabbed Brambleclaw and drew him closer, only to kick him in the stomach. Pain shot through his body, and the force sent the Thunderclan warrior reeling back a couple of steps, but he met Hawkfrost’s flying paws with his own when the coffee-colored tabby struck at him again. He tossed Hawkfrost away, but the tom wheeled on one foot to kick at him with a hindleg.

Brambleclaw staggered back from the smaller tom, stapling himself to the ground with his claws before flying to meet Hawkfrost’s newest attack. He tackled the tom in midair, and forced him down, pinning him to the black grass. The Riverclan tom thrashed violently, and Brambleclaw growled, sheathing his claws so they didn’t dig to Hawkfrost’s bones.

“Surrender.” The larger tabby hissed in his brother’s ear before hovering his teeth over Hawkfrost’s throat

“No!” Hawkfrost was clearly using all of his strength to flap around in Brambleclaw’s strong grip.

Tigerstar was watching, amber eyes narrowed intensely.

“Hawky,” The tabby rose from the stone, claws raking it. “Give up.”

“What?” The smaller tabby’s eyes widened before he suddenly made a little ‘oh’ of realization. “Alright. I surrender.”

Brambleclaw stepped off, relieved that the first fight of the night was over. He turned to pace back a few steps before something suddenly slammed onto his back.

“Gotcha!” Hawkfrost victoriously crowed, bouncing a little on Brambleclaw’s back.

“HAWKY!”

“Great job, young ones,” Tigerstar slid off of the rock, sunset-colored eyes gleaming proudly before he glared at Brambleclaw. “Always be prepared. You may think you’ve defeated your enemy before they leap at you again.”

“But… is that even allowed?!” Brambleclaw snapped under Hawkfrost, who buried his nose into Brambleclaw’s neck fur with a happy chirp. 

“Anything is allowed in a battle, Brambleclaw. When your opponent is desperate, they will do _anything_.”

Brambleclaw’s annoyance doubled when Hawkfrost began to affectionately lap at his forehead, and he was grateful for when Tigerstar tugged his brother off of him.

“Now, let’s see how you two work together against one opponent.” The large tabby set Hawkfrost down beside Brambleclaw.

“One opponent?! Both of us?!” Hawkfrost squealed, latching onto Brambleclaw in delight. “Who?”

“Him, you fish-face.” Brambleclaw teased, nudging his little brother.

“You…?” Hawkfrost gave a whine and dove to hide behind Brambleclaw, hissing in his ear. “Okay, I really don’t know about this… what if we die?”

“Well, at least we’ll have died together, right?”

“…Yeah, like that’s any better, Brambs.”

“I can hear you; you know.” Tigerstar’s lips flicked upwards. “Now, fighting stance.”

They lowered themselves down, and the fight began with Hawkfrost pouncing for Tigerstar’s shoulder. He was sent back with a powerful blow.

“Unbalanced.” Tigerstar snapped at his son, who shivered now in eagerness. “Don’t be hasty with your attacks.”

Brambleclaw took his turn next, swallowing back his apprehension, bouncing toward Tigerstar and faking a blow to the shoulder before attempting to kick his feet out from under him with his hindlegs. Tigerstar leaped, missing the leg by a hair, and threw Brambleclaw a strong shove before dealing with Hawkfrost, who was now attacking his flank.

“Hawk, you’re going easy,” The leader whipped to glare at his youngest son. “I know for a fact you can do better than that!”

Hawkfrost snarled, dipping under their father in an attempt to flip him over. Tigerstar effectively crushed Hawkfrost underneath him, and countered one of Brambleclaw’s swipes with a smack to his face before leaping off of the smaller tabby.

The brothers began to deliver blows at their father simultaneously. Tigerstar countered and dealt attacks pretty well for going up against two cats, but soon, the brothers had him pressed up against a tree.

“Surrender, Thunderclan slime!” Hawkfrost lowered himself to the ground, before throwing an apologetic glance at Brambleclaw. “No offense.”

“It’s fine…” The Thunderclan warrior sighed.

Tigerstar simply smirked, curling his butterfly-infested tail closer.

Both startled when the tabby leaped at the tree and pushed away from it, flying over their heads. Brambleclaw let out a cry of surprise when Tigerstar expertly flipped him over with one paw and suddenly his claws were pressed against Brambleclaw’s neck.

“Perfect kill,” He dragged a claw lightly over Brambleclaw’s throat, and the tom shuddered. That could have been his life if Tigerstar had _truly_ meant to kill him. “And the younger usually follows the eldest.”

“Hey!” Hawkfrost squawked.

“Do you think we could… not fight as much tonight?” Brambleclaw timidly questioned once Tigerstar removed his paw from him.

Hawkfrost seemed quite surprised, but Tigerstar’s expression became thoughtful.

“What would you rather do then?” Brambleclaw’s father asked, much to his shock.

A few (dream) hours later, they were all still curled up on the large rock, watching the strange prey scuttle by, ogling at the weird bugs flitting around.

“I think I like this better than training…” Hawkfrost purred, putting his head on Brambleclaw’s shoulder.

The Thunderclan tom couldn’t help but feel a burst of affection for the smaller tom. It wasn’t often in the living world that Hawkfrost was this affectionate or that they could meet and be together like this. He glanced at Tigerstar warily. The former Tigerclan leader was washing his cream-colored chest, tail swept to his left side.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Tigerstar with his defenses low, if it had even ever happened. Their relationship had been so short-lived before – and kind of awful if one put some thought into it. He’d been there, briefly Goldenflower had told him, but Brambleclaw couldn’t remember any of that. The next thing he could recall is that day when his father had died.

Brambleclaw stole a tiny glance where the wound should have been, but the way Tigerstar was positioned, he couldn’t see the hole that ripped his spiritual body.

He gritted his teeth, trying to force the memory of Scourge and that Tigerclan battle from his mind.

Beside him, Tigerstar shifted, curling up into a ball and yawning a little. When the tabby closed his eyes, Hawkfrost peeked over Brambleclaw, grinning.

“Hey, you wanna play with his tail?”

“Seriously? Aren’t we too old for that?” But Brambleclaw was smiling along with his brother.

“ _Psh_ , come on… you’re not going to find a better tail to chase!”

They got up, and positioned themselves behind their father. Fortunately for them, his tail flicked. Hawkfrost took the first swat, ice blue eyes lighting up as the butterflies opened and closed their wings, some of them slowly, others more quickly.

“They’re laughing at you.” Brambleclaw chuckled.

Tigerstar’s tail flicked again, twice, and their eyes locked onto the target, pupils dilating when the many little wings playfully beat the air.

“That is cool,” Brambleclaw breathed out, swiping at it lightly.

The tail swished out of the way, and Brambleclaw smacked the place where it was, but it swished again. Brambleclaw took a step to the side when Tigerstar rolled on his back, gazing at them with his belly exposed. Brambleclaw could now see clearly the slashed portion of his cream-colored belly. There were no organs there…

He narrowed his eyes and glanced away, bile rising in his throat, but Hawkfrost hardly seemed phased, and wriggled to Tigerstar’s side.

“Do we have to go back to the real world?” The white-chested tom sighed, looking up at their father sadly. “Can’t you come with us?”

“I can never come for too long, Hawky. You know that much.” But Tigerstar was looking at Brambleclaw. The little wings were fluttering rapidly.

Brambleclaw gulped, suddenly much more uncomfortable than he had been earlier. The way Tigerstar was eyeing him was just… giving him chills. Nope, forget it, he didn’t like this place. It was creepy. He’d rather be back in his nest, even if he was confined to the medicine den… Whatever Tigerstar was trying to do tonight wasn’t normal. He never just stopped training like that just to… something was up. Brambleclaw didn’t know what it was yet, but it was something. Probably something that only benefited his father.

“I… could I actually go and get some real rest? Please?” The Thunderclan warrior took a step back, claws digging into the rock.

“You can rest here.” Tigerstar replied, rolling so his back faced up again. “Or you want to go back to your Thunderclan…?”

“Yes. I just want to go home right now… I think I might throw up; I don’t want to do it here.” Well, he wasn’t really lying. The sight of that infected, empty wound had turned his stomach for that night.

He noticed with a pang that the butterflies were fighting on Tigerstar’s pelt when the tabby sent him another look before he closed his eyes and inhaled.

“Fine. We’ll see you at our next training session.” When the tabby opened his eyes, they were glowing with fire.

Brambleclaw felt himself swirl back into his moss nest, paws flailing when he reached his living body. He sat up, gasping a little, glancing around at his surroundings. Just herbs. Just herbs, and Cinderpelt, and broad daylight filtering through the lichen at the entrance. The gray she-cat had her injured leg propped out as she sorted her herbs.

Everything was quiet and calm, and he loved it. The tabby collapsed back into his nest, sighing loudly in relief.

“Whoa, Scramble! You’re finally up!” The she-cat trotted over to greet him, periwinkle eyes shining. “Thank Stars… you were breathing so quietly, I almost thought you were dead!”

 _Dead?_ Brambleclaw dumbfoundedly stared at her. If… if even a medicine cat had nearly assumed that he was dead… Had Tigerstar…

“But you were just breathing real quietly, so nothing to worry about. Guess I’m used to hearing cats snore like badgers, ya’ know?” She tossed her herbs at the stone wall. “Are you hungry? Aw, who am I kidding, of course you are! You slept way past sun high. Like, Leafpaw’s nearly through with her training for today, most of the patrols have been sent, Firestar came and watched you sleep, and I watched him watch you sleep…”

She noticed the way Brambleclaw was squinting at her and coughed loudly.

“Uh… anyways, about that mouse or something!”

She hobbled out of the entrance, leaving Brambleclaw alone in the den. The tabby sighed boredly, putting his head on his paws.

He needed to get some actual rest… but part of him was scared of sleeping again. So he simply curled up, and glared at the bright sunlight lighting up the entrance until Cinderpelt returned with a mouse.

“Come on, Scramble… you have to eat something…” She encouraged when he turned away from the mouse. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m confined to this dusty den and I can’t hunt or do anything. What do you think?” He neglected to tell her about the strangest training session of his life when he glared at her.

“I think ya should eat something!” She picked up the mouse and pretended to put it in her mouth. “See? It goes in your mouth like this, and then all you have to do is ‘nom nom nom’!”

Brambleclaw couldn’t help but smile at the hilarious way she was pretending to eat the mouse, and he laughed.

“I know how to eat a mouse!” He managed between purrs.

“Show me then,” Cinderpelt tossed it at him. “A good eater leaves the bones clean. In the meantime, Leafpaw’s been taking a while with collecting those herbs by the river! Better make sure she hasn’t drowned or anything…”

Once the she-cat was gone, Brambleclaw set to work on finishing the mouse, but not without pondering about how strange last night had been. Cinderpelt did say his slumber was a little bit weirder than normal…

“I’ll probably be worrying about this all moon…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes a Hawky-boi!  
> Ah, I kinda missed writing about him. 
> 
> Anyways, this is one of the chappies I don't feel too great about, but uh... *coughs* yeah anyways I missed writing about Hawkfrost and terrible fighting parts so yay

**Author's Note:**

> An idea I've had for a while, and something for those who want more Firedad and Brambleson in their lives


End file.
